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===Spring schedule vs. fall schedule=== In 1984, the league began discussing the possibility of competing head-to-head with the NFL by playing its games in the fall beginning in 1986. The strongest proponents of playing in the fall were Chicago owner [[Eddie Einhorn]] and Generals owner Donald Trump. Einhorn and Trump argued that if the USFL moved to the fall, it would eventually force a merger with the NFL in which the older league would have to admit at least some USFL teams. They also argued that if a merger did occur, the surviving teams' original investment would more than double. A consulting firm recommended sticking with a spring season. Despite the protests of many of the league's "old guard", who wanted to stay with the original plan of playing football in the spring months, on August 22, 1984, the owners voted to move to the fall starting in 1986.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/08/23/sports/usfl-votes-to-switch-to-playing-fall-schedule.html|title=U.S.F.L. Votes to Switch to Playing Fall Schedule|first=Gerald|last=Eskenazi|newspaper=The New York Times|date=August 23, 1984|access-date=March 3, 2019|archive-date=February 18, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190218202018/https://www.nytimes.com/1984/08/23/sports/usfl-votes-to-switch-to-playing-fall-schedule.html|url-status=live}}</ref> On April 29, 1985, the league's owners voted 13β2 to reaffirm their decision to begin playing a fall season in 1986. Tampa Bay Bandits owner [[John F. Bassett]], who had registered one of the two "nay" votes, declared his intention to pull his team out of the USFL and organize a new spring football league.<ref name="mizell">{{cite news | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=4R5RAAAAIBAJ&dq=john-bassett%20bandits&pg=3946%2C6765755 | title=By its own hand, USFL will fall into oblivion | work=St. Petersburg Times | date=30 April 1985 | access-date=1 March 2014 | author=Mizell, Hubert | pages=1C | archive-date=March 22, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220322100044/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=4R5RAAAAIBAJ&dq=john-bassett%20bandits&pg=3946%2C6765755 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=4R5RAAAAIBAJ&dq=john-bassett+bandits&pg=6235,6592417|title=St. Petersburg Times|via=Google News Archive Search|website=news.google.com|access-date=August 13, 2021|archive-date=August 13, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813221437/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=4R5RAAAAIBAJ&dq=john-bassett+bandits&pg=6235,6592417|url-status=live}}</ref> However, failing health (he died from cancer in May 1986) forced Bassett to abandon his plans and sell the Bandits to minor partner Lee Scarfone, who agreed to keep the franchise in the USFL.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=nbxOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=zvsDAAAAIBAJ&dq=bassett%20bandits%20scarfone&pg=2874%2C161217 Lakeland Ledger] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151119120931/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=nbxOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=zvsDAAAAIBAJ&dq=bassett%20bandits%20scarfone&pg=2874%2C161217 |date=November 19, 2015 }} (via Google News Archive Search)</ref> The spring advocates had lost, and the fall advocates now set their sights on forcing a merger with the NFL, or at the very least winning a sizable settlement and securing a TV network for fall broadcasts. As a direct result of this decision, the Pittsburgh Maulers folded rather than compete with the [[Pittsburgh Steelers]], the sale of the struggling Washington Federals to Weiser's Miami-based ownership group collapsed, the New Orleans Breakers and 1984 champion Philadelphia Stars had to relocate, and the 1983 champion Michigan Panthers surprised the commissioner with an announcement that they would not be playing in the Detroit area for the 1985 season. Panthers owner [[A. Alfred Taubman]] informed the league at the meeting that he had negotiated a conditional merger with Tad Taube's Oakland Invaders depending on the outcome of the vote, with Taubman as majority owner. With an expectation of fall play in 1986, Einhorn decided not to field a team for the final [[wikt:lame duck|lame duck]] spring 1985 season. Within a few weeks of the decision, the USFL had been forced to abandon four lucrative markets, abort a move to a fifth and suspend operations in a sixth. In hindsight, this destroyed the USFL's viability, although the Maulers folding likely would've happened anyway due to the team being owned by [[shopping mall]] magnate [[Edward J. DeBartolo Sr.]] (who also owned the [[National Hockey League]]'s [[Pittsburgh Penguins]] at the time), whose son [[Edward J. DeBartolo Jr.]] owned the [[Super Bowl XIX|Super Bowl]] champion [[San Francisco 49ers]] (a team now owned by his sister [[Denise DeBartolo York]]), causing a potential [[conflict of interest]] for the family between the USFL and the NFL.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/03/23/sports/nfl-sees-conflict-in-bid-by-debartolo.html|title=N.f.l. Sees Conflict in Bid by Debartolo|first1=Michael|last1=Janofsky|newspaper=The New York Times|date=23 March 1983|access-date=February 9, 2018|archive-date=October 18, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171018013437/http://www.nytimes.com/1983/03/23/sports/nfl-sees-conflict-in-bid-by-debartolo.html|url-status=live}}</ref> ABC offered the USFL a 4-year, $175 million TV deal to play in the spring in 1986. ESPN offered $70 million over 3 years. Following all the mergers and shutdowns, there just were not enough spring football advocates left in the league to accept those contracts. The owners in the league walked away from what averaged out to $67 million per year starting in 1986 to pursue victory over the NFL.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}} After the 1985 season, more plans were announced to accommodate the fall schedule, pool financial resources and avoid costly head-to-head competition with NFL teams. Two mergers were announced. The Denver Gold merged with the Jacksonville Bulls, with the Bulls as the surviving team. Trump bought the assets of the Houston Gamblers for an undisclosed amount and merged them with the New Jersey Generals. While the Generals were the surviving team, Gamblers coach [[Jack Pardee]] was named as the merged team's new coach. Both the Gold and Gamblers had seen their attendance plummet to unsustainable levels, as their fanbases were not willing to abandon the [[Denver Broncos]] and [[Houston Oilers]], respectively. In spite of all of these changes, the USFL would never play a fall game.
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